The Competition Commission plans to hire people for nearly two dozen vacancies at its investigative arm as the fair trade watchdog continues to grapple with staff crunch.Candidates will be hired on a deputation basis for seven joint director general and 13 deputy director general posts, according to a communication issued by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). These positions are at the DG office.The appointments will be initially for 3 years and could be extended up to 5 years. The CCI carries out probes into cases where there is a prima facie violation of competition norms, through the Director General (DG) office. Around 37 per cent of the total 197 sanctioned posts are lying vacant at the regulator, which keeps a tab on anti- competitive business practices across sectors.

This translates into 73 vacancies.According to the communication, the candidates should have experience in an investigation under any economic law such as income tax, Customs, and enforcement or “gathering of intelligence”.”Applicants must be employees of central or state governments, government companies or autonomous bodies or regulatory authorities or universities or academic or research or judicial institutions etc of central or state governments,” the communication said.

Last month, the government informed the Lok Sabha that a total of 73 positions were vacant at the CCI and the DG office. “CCI notifies the existing vacancies, normally, three or four times in a year, for filling them up as per the prescribed mode of recruitment. Recently, nine candidates have been selected for appointment on deputation to various posts in the office of DG,” Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal had said in a written reply on July 21.